Food in Greece

Alfred Molon wrote:

This is our first trip to Greece and the culinary experience hasn't so
far been satisfactory. It seems that the food in Greece (at least the
one offered in the restaurants catering to tourists) is heavily tilted
towards meat and fat (and quite pricey also - in Porto Heli they charged
us 28 Euro for a dish of seafood spaghetti).

For one dish? Even in expensive UK, that would be very rare- though I'm
sure some of the very expensive restaurants could mangage it...

Greece: In urban and rural areas eat lamb, coastal areas eat fish. Works
for me!

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

This is our first trip to Greece and the culinary experience hasn't so
far been satisfactory. It seems that the food in Greece (at least the
one offered in the restaurants catering to tourists) is heavily tilted
towards meat and fat (and quite pricey also - in Porto Heli they charged
us 28 Euro for a dish of seafood spaghetti). Lots of grilled and
fat/oily stuff, low on vegetables. Meat, meat and more meat...

The grilled meat we received was almost always partially burnt, i.e. the
parts of the meat touching the grill were carbonised. This has happened
in almost every restaurant where we have been so far. It's as if people
here don't care if the meat ends up being carbonised. I doubt it is
healthy eating carbonised stuff. Then souvlaki is served with fried
potatoes and this leads me to my next point.

Fat/oily food: dishes were low on carbohydrates, but high on fats and
proteines. We tried to escape the meat/fat trap and ordered pasta. Well,
most of the time the pasta was overcooked and sigh, almost invariably,
heavy on cream and cheese. We had spaghetti carbonara in Athens full of
cream and cheese and as a consequence could not finish the dish. In
Argos they served us spaghetti again overloaded with cream and cheese.
They even put cheese on the rice.

It seems that the only healthy thing to eat in Greece is salad and
bread. But even here things can go wrong: in one case they served a
mixed salad covered with a thick layer of mayonnaise, with pieces of
cheese and ham. Sigh.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

On Sat, 9 Jun 2007 03:19:54 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

This is our first trip to Greece and the culinary experience hasn't so
far been satisfactory. It seems that the food in Greece (at least the
one offered in the restaurants catering to tourists) is heavily tilted
towards meat and fat (and quite pricey also - in Porto Heli they charged
us 28 Euro for a dish of seafood spaghetti). Lots of grilled and
fat/oily stuff, low on vegetables. Meat, meat and more meat...

The grilled meat we received was almost always partially burnt, i.e. the
parts of the meat touching the grill were carbonised. This has happened
in almost every restaurant where we have been so far. It's as if people
here don't care if the meat ends up being carbonised. I doubt it is
healthy eating carbonised stuff. Then souvlaki is served with fried
potatoes and this leads me to my next point.

Fat/oily food: dishes were low on carbohydrates, but high on fats and
proteines. We tried to escape the meat/fat trap and ordered pasta. Well,
most of the time the pasta was overcooked and sigh, almost invariably,
heavy on cream and cheese. We had spaghetti carbonara in Athens full of
cream and cheese and as a consequence could not finish the dish. In
Argos they served us spaghetti again overloaded with cream and cheese.
They even put cheese on the rice.

It seems that the only healthy thing to eat in Greece is salad and
bread. But even here things can go wrong: in one case they served a
mixed salad covered with a thick layer of mayonnaise, with pieces of
cheese and ham. Sigh.

You seem to be confusing the culinary experience (was the
food delicious?) with healthy (was the food nutritious and
good for me?).

I had few problems with food in Greece; but then my diet
tends to be lower carb, higher in salads and similar. I am a
diabetic and very careful about my diet, see my blog if
you're interested in the details. I was nervous about some
things in Greece, like the open meat-market and the tendency
to ignore flies - but I didn't catch anything and I left
with good blood glucose and cholesterol numbers and no added
weight. I did find that I detested the standard "mousaka"; I
suspect those I was served probably spent a lot of time in
freezers.

Before you start pontificating on "healthy" diets and
presuming that the Greek diet is bad do a little research.
You could start by comparing the death-rate and
life-expectancy of the Greeks with your home country,
wherever that is.

For example, have a look at the bar-chart on page 4 here,
comparing European countries:
http://www.euro.who.int/document/ehr/e76907c.pdf
World Health Organisation
Life expectancy and mortality

Greece is number 7 out of about 50 there, and most of the
other lower mortality nations are Mediterranean - France,
Spain, Italy. Where does your country sit in that table?

Or, if your country isn't there, try this:
http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat2006_mortality.pdf

Life expectancy at birth.
male female
Greece 77 82
USA 75 80

Of course, diet isn't the only factor; exercise, lifestyle,
health care standards and availability all play a part. But
it is a major factor.

You would probably have departed healthier if you had simply
eaten the most popular dish in each restaurant you
patronised.

On scorched meat and AGE's, possibly you have a point. But
only a minor one in this context.

Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Slovenia
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/

On Jun 8, 9:19 pm, Alfred Molon wrote:
This is our first trip to Greece and the culinary experience hasn't so
far been satisfactory. It seems that the food in Greece (at least the
one offered in the restaurants catering to tourists)


Why are you going to tourist restaurants? That's a bad idea anywhere
in the world. Why don't you go to the places that are full of locals?

is heavily tilted towards meat and fat


There's loads of great seafood available in Greece, and they do a lot
of interesting vegetable and seafood-based appetizers. If you are
eating greasy meat every meal you aren't trying very hard.

(and quite pricey also - in Porto Heli they charged
us 28 Euro for a dish of seafood spaghetti). Lots of grilled and
fat/oily stuff, low on vegetables. Meat, meat and more meat...


On the mainland they do use a lot of lamb and other meats in the
cuisine, but you can still get good seafood in most places.

The grilled meat we received was almost always partially burnt, i.e. the
parts of the meat touching the grill were carbonised. This has happened
in almost every restaurant where we have been so far. It's as if people
here don't care if the meat ends up being carbonised. I doubt it is
healthy eating carbonised stuff.


As long as it's a quality restaurant, ask for your meat medium rare.

Fat/oily food: dishes were low on carbohydrates, but high on fats and
proteines. We tried to escape the meat/fat trap and ordered pasta. Well,
most of the time the pasta was overcooked and sigh, almost invariably,
heavy on cream and cheese. We had spaghetti carbonara in Athens full of
cream and cheese and as a consequence could not finish the dish. In
Argos they served us spaghetti again overloaded with cream and cheese.
They even put cheese on the rice.


....spaghetti carbonara is not exactly authentic Greek food!

Italian food should be avoided like the plague in countries that don't
have an actual Italian community.

It seems that the only healthy thing to eat in Greece is salad and
bread. But even here things can go wrong: in one case they served a
mixed salad covered with a thick layer of mayonnaise, with pieces of
cheese and ham. Sigh.


How many restaurants in Greece don't offer a traditional Greek
salad??? (if you're really health-conscious, have them leave off the
feta and oil.) Or a seafood salad.

On Fri, 08 Jun 2007 19:31:36 -0700, Iceman
wrote:


How many restaurants in Greece don't offer a traditional Greek
salad??? (if you're really health-conscious, have them leave off the
feta and oil.) Or a seafood salad.

Exclude the healthiest bit? Never:-)


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Slovenia
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/

Alfred wrote on Sat, 9 Jun 2007 03:19:54 +0200:

AM The grilled meat we received was almost always partially
AM burnt, i.e. the parts of the meat touching the grill were
AM carbonised. This has happened in almost every restaurant
AM where we have been so far. It's as if people here don't
AM care if the meat ends up being carbonised. I doubt it is
AM healthy eating carbonised stuff. Then souvlaki is served
AM with fried potatoes and this leads me to my next point.

AM Fat/oily food: dishes were low on carbohydrates, but high
on
AM fats and proteines. We tried to escape the meat/fat trap
AM and ordered pasta. Well, most of the time the pasta was
AM overcooked and sigh, almost invariably, heavy on cream and
AM cheese. We had spaghetti carbonara in Athens full of cream
AM and cheese and as a consequence could not finish the dish.
AM In Argos they served us spaghetti again overloaded with
AM cream and cheese. They even put cheese on the rice.

AM It seems that the only healthy thing to eat in Greece is
AM salad and bread. But even here things can go wrong: in one
case
AM they served a mixed salad covered with a thick layer of
AM mayonnaise, with pieces of cheese and ham. Sigh.

Health and the Mediterranean paradox indeed! :-)

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

"Alfred Molon" kirjoitti
s.com...
In article . com,

We didn't find that much variety in seafood. Besides, fish and seafood
in general in Greece tends to be very expensive.

As in rest of the world. Recently I read a newspaper article about
Norwegian fish food industry. They don't scale and gut fish in Norway
anymore but it is transported to Thailand as deep frozen by big container
ships where the scaling takes place. Then ships ply in the opposite
direction Europe being the destination. Dead fish has travelled some 35
thousand kilometers. Reasonable? No way!

In article . com,
says...

Why are you going to tourist restaurants? That's a bad idea anywhere
in the world. Why don't you go to the places that are full of locals?

We don't know where these places are. As tourists we visit the tourist
things, as a consequence are in the tourist areas and end up in tourist
restaurants because we don't know where, are tired after so much
sightseeing, don't have time. Try looking for a restaurant with a hungry
wife and a hungry 3 yr old. Also, we don't speak Greek.

There's loads of great seafood available in Greece, and they do a lot
of interesting vegetable and seafood-based appetizers. If you are
eating greasy meat every meal you aren't trying very hard.

We didn't find that much variety in seafood. Besides, fish and seafood
in general in Greece tends to be very expensive.

snip

As long as it's a quality restaurant, ask for your meat medium rare.

Tried that once, the waiter looked at me in a funny way, and the meat
still came carbonised.

...spaghetti carbonara is not exactly authentic Greek food!

Italian food should be avoided like the plague in countries that don't
have an actual Italian community.

We just wanted to have some pasta, to reduce the fats and meat.

How many restaurants in Greece don't offer a traditional Greek
salad??? (if you're really health-conscious, have them leave off the
feta and oil.) Or a seafood salad.

Yes, salad seems to be the only relatively safe thing in Greece.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

On Jun 9, 9:04 am, Alfred Molon wrote:
In article . com,
says...

Why are you going to tourist restaurants? That's a bad idea anywhere
in the world. Why don't you go to the places that are full of locals?

We don't know where these places are. As tourists we visit the tourist
things, as a consequence are in the tourist areas and end up in tourist
restaurants because we don't know where, are tired after so much
sightseeing, don't have time. Try looking for a restaurant with a hungry
wife and a hungry 3 yr old. Also, we don't speak Greek.

Alfred - did you ask here about food recommendations before you went?
I don't remember seeing a question on it, which is a pity, because, as
you found, there is plenty of garbage dished up as tourist food in
Greece, but there is also lots of great stuff, which may even have
been available in the tourist restaurants you visited. Apart from the
obvious "Greek salad" there are always vegetable dishes, ratatouille-
type dishes, stuffed tomatoes, mountain leaves (want to translate
"horta", Magda ? :-). Fish can be expensive, but is good and safe.
Food is cooked in oil, not animal fat. If I want meat I often get
pork, which is delicious grilled with lemon juice, or a roast.

Anyway - I hope the rest of your trip was enjoyable!!

B;

On Jun 9, 11:25 am, Magda magda@fr wrote:

I particularly like thinly cut white cabbage with lemon juice. Funny, I don't miss meat
when I'm in Greece...

Oh, yes - sort of like coleslaw with oil and lemon instead of
mayonnaise :-)

B;